Perpetual Motion Machine: The History Of The Industrial Revolution Explained By Way Of A Dyspeptic Metaphor, 2000
Dyspeptic Metaphor, 2000

For an exhibition that traveled around the UK, I made this device. A plywood bookshelf surmounted by a mechanical model that was intended to interact with viewers and metaphorically display a historical mechanism whereby products are created in the UK, consumed and changed in the US, and re - exported to the UK. The head resembles a collapsed Roman Colossus, which provides a landscape and historical context for a working model of the first steam driven mine pump. On one side of the head/cliff, an aperture is opened and inside one can see a large hamburger. On the other side of the head sits an outsized Gillette Mach 3 disposable shaver. Hanging by cords from the back of the head is a Coke can split in two. From a miniature culvert in the mouth, a wire issues and is strung throughout the museum. The wire terminates in a switch that is connected to the cash register in the museum gift shop. When a purchase is made, the work is activated. The model mine pump begins to reciprocate, in opposition to the motion of the razor. Simultaneously, the patty of the hamburger, which is in fact a custom made record, begins to turn. A miniature land rover enters the hamburger through a bite in the bun. Audio is heard from the split Coke can in the back. The recording details scenarios concerning the period between the beginning and the end of the Industrial Revolution (represented by the steam pump and the razor(the technology for the blades of which was developed in the same region as the pump)). It ends with the playing of "Koka Kola" by The Clash, which is about the equivalence of advertising with drug abuse, among other things. At the end of the record, everything stops and waits for another patron. This thing is very pre - computer for me so all the systems are analog and mechanical. It required a lot of tuning, and in view of that, I produced fake books (on the shelves below the head) the titles of which reflect some of the themes touched on in the recording, which are, ultimately the themes of the production of the artwork itself (titles include 'The History of Plywood','The History Of The Word 'Yeah' in music', and 'Making Your Own Personal Hygiene Products', etc.